Worklopnik: large counties edition

"ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com" (ita97)
03/30/2020 at 22:36 • Filed to: None

I run the flood warning system for a local flood commission, and as such we have weather monitoring sites and radio repeaters all over the county. We’re one of those Western counties that is bigger than a couple of states combined back East, and today I got reminded of that by virtue of visiting seven sites scattered around the extremes of the county on each side all in one day.

This was all necessitated by Covid-19 and a grant administrator requiring us to provide the documentation for grant verification instead of going out and doing it themselves since they’re working from home. This was fine, except they didn’t tell us until after the fact that federal regulation whatever requires 4 photos of each site from each direction, which meant my today was Tour de (large county) to capture the images since we only took one or two pictures at installation... Some of these sites are over an hour from the nearest paved road.

I did the day in a generally circular route, covering 233 miles in six hours and ten minutes of drive time visiting close to the county limits in each cardinal direction. It was a good day, as more than half the distance was on dirt. Only a few spots of 4wd low were required in some sandy spots.

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It actually wasn’t a total loss, as I needed to go back out to two of the seven sites anyway. One needed a bullet hole patched, and another need some programming fixes on the datalogger.

Things were seen:

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Some better-than-average graffiti on an interstate underpass.

Yellow Poppies. In a normal spring, a few are seen here and there. Having had an extraordinarily wet and cool winter/early spring, many places of the desert floor look like this. It is uncanny, and I’ve never seen a bloom like it in a decade living down here.

There weren’t any yellow poppies blooming in the Southwestern part of the county not too far from the US/Mexico border, but the Wild Rhubarb was.

As one who sometimes stacks things, I deeply appreciate whoever stacked these remnants of old railroad ties out in the middle of nowhere.

One of these sites is at a county fire station, where they have some interesting stuff out back.

Count the six hours of drive time, taking pictures at a site, reprogramming a datalogger and patching one bullet hole in a standpipe, and it mad e for a great, but long, day. It sure beat sitting in my office, which I make a point of doing less than 50% of my working time.

I’m still working as one deemed “essential.” We’ve got some high- risk folks on administrative leave, and some folks working from home. I’m fine coming into work, as I literally have a building to myself and a work truck that no one else drives. I have to intentionally go out of my way to physically interact with another person right now at work.

If it came down to it, I could “work from home” some in the sense that I can run the software side of the system from anywhere with an internet connection . My doggos would like that, but I’m fine continuing to go out and play in the dirt.

How’s Oppo tonight?

DISCUSSION (14)

Just Jeepin' > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
03/30/2020 at 22:51

You buried the lede! Nice M35!

Looks almost identical to this Air Force fire truck.

Kinja'd!!!

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Just Jeepin'
03/30/2020 at 22:56

Ha! I'm going to guess that truck was almost certainly procured as military surplus, and we've certainly got Air Force bases in the state.

Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
03/30/2020 at 22:58

“better than average graffiti” reminded me of this, seen in the train graveyard in Bolivia (and unsurprisi ngly easy to find som eone else’s photo of online)

Kinja'd!!!

Just Jeepin' > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
03/30/2020 at 23:00

One of my favorite small towns in Indiana has, in its volunteer fire department, two fire truck M715s donated to it by the feds because they’re responsible for a chunk of the Hoosier National Forest.

I need to find a way to get notified when they decide to auction those off. Wish I could find the photo someone sent me. Soooooo sexy.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
03/31/2020 at 00:27

Say what you want, but I find that countryside beautiful. Some day I'd love to own a place out in the middle of nowhere, half dug into a hill. Thermal mass to keep it cool during the day. Add some solar panels for power.

Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen > Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen
03/31/2020 at 00:49

For the dummies , this is Einstein’ s Field E quation, which relates the geometry of spacetime to the distribution of matter within it . For the special condition of weak gravity and velo cities much smaller than the speed of light, it approximates to Newton’s Law of Gravit ation. It’s well known that, like Rolf Harris, Einstein did his best work with a 4" paintbrush .

But ya’ll knew that already, I’m sure. As did I, without having to go near Google (mumblecough).

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > BaconSandwich is tasty.
03/31/2020 at 00:59

You and me both. I’m happily a desert rat that finds the landscape here starkly amazing . The desert is a wondrous place, and I never cease to find new things out here. The nice thing about NM is that if you forests, we’ve got those too not far away.

DipodomysDeserti > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
03/31/2020 at 01:13

How useful would an environmental resource management masters degree be with a focus on water management be for a job like this? I’ve ran everything from a print shop to a AP Physics program, and would rather deal with water and dirt than absentee parents

If you’re hiring, let me know. Spent a bit of time in NM when my SIL was stationed at Kirkland.

In case you end up being quarantined, check out Fire on the Mountain for a good NM themed read.

Cash Rewards > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
03/31/2020 at 08:07

That looks awesome! I'd love to make it out to the Southwest sometime. I was in new Mexico briefly a few years ago, not nearly long enough

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > DipodomysDeserti
03/31/2020 at 08:31

I’ll have to add it to my reading list.

For what I do, the job is more about IT system administration and radio telemetry. A background somehow dealing with at least one of those gets into the hydrologic monitoring field, but the rest is learned on the job. There isn’t a hard credential for what I do.

For the flood commission in general, many of the folks were hire are civil engineers, or as engineers in training pre PE. That said, we also have a GIS person ,some engineering techs, planners and a survey party chief.

Your program would probably fit for a tech or planner type position, especially paired with a certified floodplain manager cert. Not to say those folks never get to play outside, but they’re mostly office positions dealing with zoning and permitting functions of our operation. We’re not hiring at the moment, but we will likely be hiring for a grant writer position soon.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
03/31/2020 at 08:41

I bet the sky out there at night is amazing.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > BaconSandwich is tasty.
03/31/2020 at 11:03

Yes, especially once you get a few miles out of town.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > DipodomysDeserti
03/31/2020 at 11:25

If you want the learn more about hydrologic monitoring, your county has probably the model flood warning system for the West. Maricopa county’s system is huge, and they’ve been doing it since the 70's. getting this kind of job probably hinges on being able to talk about computer hardware and software, radios and electronics in general in the interview.

DipodomysDeserti > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
03/31/2020 at 11:50

Thanks for the info. My school offers training for various certs , so I’m going to start adding some. BicycleBuick already mentioned some I should get. I would have to learn more about the comms stuff. One of my closest friends was a scout in the Army and involved in TCS so I’ll have to pick his brain.